Dundee Cake

Not a lot of time for crafting at the moment as I am really busy doing lots of baking for a weekend away with a load of crafting friends and then a weekend in The Netherlands at the Marillion convention.  One of my favourite cakes to take away is a Dundee cake as it keeps really well in the freezer and it travels well - it is also Mr P's favourite cake.

The recipe I use is one that I cut out of Prima magazine many years ago and have just slightly tweaked it by the addition of dried cranberries and soaking the fruit in whisky.

3oz, each of currant, raisins, sultanas and dried cranberries, add 2 oz of candied peel and soak in whisky overnight - I generally add a generous glug of blended whisky (or cooking whisky as Mr P calls it LOL!!)

Next day - preheat oven to 240 C and line an 8" round tin with greaseproof paper.

Cream together 6 oz butter and 6 oz caster sugar, until they are light and fluffy.

Slowly add 4 beaten eggs with 2 oz ground almonds - I always add a large spoonful of the almonds and one egg at a time.  Mix well.

Then add 10 oz plain flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder and mix well.

Add the dried fruit and peel mixture and mix well.

Put the mixture in the greased/lined tin and smooth top, decorate the top with blanched whole almonds.

Put in the centre of the oven and reduce the heat immediately to 160 C - bake for 1 1/2  - 2 hours.  After first 40 minutes of cooking, cover the top of the cake with foil to prevent burning and continue to cook.  Test the cake is done by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake - it will come out clean when cooked.  Remove from cake tin and cool on a wire rack.

I also make a mini version of this cake to give as gifts.

My friend Wendy gave me a tip about using empty tuna cans as mini cake tins (don't worry they were thoroughly washed out and went for a spin in a dishwasher too, to get rid of any trace of fish).  If you line the bottom of the tin with greaseproof paper and coat the sides of the tins with Cake Release, the cakes come out really easily.  You can get 9 mini cakes from the recipe and they take about an hour to cook - I usually cover them with foil after the first 30 minutes.